Blues squandered a 2-0 lead and conceded twice in either half to leave the Goldsands Stadium empty handed.

Captain Paul Robinson had a particularly difficult afternoon, losing Callum Wilson for the second goal, fouling him and conceding a penalty for the third and bringing him down as the last man to pick up his first red card as Blues player.

However, while Rowett conceded it might have been a mistake to give Robinson his first start since February 24 against the league’s leading goal-scorers, he refused to blame the veteran for the loss.

“That was a decision I made before Friday’s game. I kind of made a conscious decision to make three or four changes,” Rowett admitted.

Birmingham City's Paul Robinson sees red at Bournemouth

“Sometimes, particularly a centre half, coming into the game a little bit cold, maybe in retrospect it wasn’t the right decision.

“But listen Robbo’s a seasoned pro, he has played lots of games for us this season. He’s been very, very good for us.

“I don’t think it’s just that.

“We are just torn between at the moment where we show fantastic potential in the way we play and our quality for 35 minutes.

“And we showed the other side of what you have to do when you play that way.

GALLERY: Can you see yourself in the away end at the Goldsands on Easter Monday?

“You have got to be concentrating the whole time, you can’t let the other team get into the game.

“In the opening stages we were very, very good defensively, we just switched off for five minutes, had a mad five minutes, the momentum and stronger mentality then is with Bournemouth.”

Robinson will now be suspended for the visit of Wolves on Saturday, which could mean a quick return for Rob Kiernan who stepped down against Eddie Howe’s men.

Rob Kiernan

In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s reverse Rowett found little comfort in the fact that Blues had performed much better than they did when the sides met at St Andrew’s in October, a match that produced the infamous 8-0 reverse.

“I think we played very, very well for 35 minutes but against a terrific footballing team like Bournemouth that’s not enough, you have got to do it for the whole game,” he said.

“It’s hard to have that outlook on the game after you have just lost 4-2 but I am very positive about what we showed in the first 35 minutes. I am just disappointed for the players.

Birmingham City boss Gary Rowett

“Maybe I am being slightly unfair and not giving Bournemouth enough credit but I said to the players ‘With a slightly better mentality we could be coming away with a fantastic win that turns the league table upside down’.

“As it is we came away with a disappointing defeat and all the players’ heads are down.

“But there are small moments in games that need to go for you, one or two of those decisions didn’t go our way and one or two of the moments when we need to do better and we can therefore blame ourselves a little bit.”